Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1887-02-02
a SINGING GHOST.
Story OF a Strange People Who live In tho
Mountains OF West Virginia.
Icincinnatl EnQuIrer.l


Cincinnati Enqulrer.l
There is wild country in the rear OF
Cannelton mountain, In the Western par9
Of Kanawha County, writes a Charleston,
W. Va. correspondents. Strange people,
many Of whom are nomadic iii habit.
strange customs AMI strange habftations
may be fouhtl for the locking. Here the
''sing- diggers," or cave-dwellers. thrive
In Will iuSuriance; here the Brother
hood of Prayer and Church of Col sec $.
whose curious rites of humility nm peu-
ance recall the history of druidical wor
ship. On southern slope of a mountain
about five miles beg ond "thc settlemtn "
las these primitive hammered people still
call the villages-E lem Smi b, Free
viii Baptist. pitched his tent tn years
ago. His claims fer preferment wero
speedily recognize anl q following OBJ
tanned. Tbs more misty his eloquence the
greater honors Were hrapea upon him. A
rude hut was his dwelling Aplac,, in
dense wood, never touched ~ sunshine,
and hard by a little stream, spting fed, and
q twinkling waterfall. Here the owls
hoo.ed grewsomely in the nighttime.
Deacon Smith was pale, cadavefohs and
solemn. His wife was OF the Gypsy typo
I
That she ruled the deacon with no gentle
rod no one had reason to doubt. She hell
herself aloof from "his people,n though
taking part in the Saturday night sArv.
ices. lie neve preached save at night, nj
then only in the light of the moon. For
this he gave reasons foun led on Dibks
teaching an satisfactory TO the flock.
The dark woman was held in veneraticn
] hx-f In
Others could, and gave them healing po-
| lions and charms aga nSt the power of line
| evil one. Once it is said that when Edom
| Smith spoke of death and the grave in his
| discourse she shiieked aloud and rebuked
! her husband with angry words. 1t was
known that her terror Of death amounted
/ TO madness, and shs had extor,et
an oath from him never TO consign her
body 10 tho ground, lut 10 inclose it in an
oaken box, to lie deposited on a specified
stump near the hous,. For want of sun
| light she fell i'll of rheumatism in on,
autumn, and died when the leaves wei q
coming out again in the tangle of vines
on the tent. Z lom Smith romemLe"ed his
vow, ard respec. ell it. Within sight OF
the bride path that led 20 The Highway a
few miles beyond, on the stump that Olga
]
her body was placed. TIL, people he-
sought him to lury the remains, but he
said he burst not break his word, for she
had promised to haunt him for this, and
always kept her word. Then they made
new path to the river that they might
avoid the awful spectacle of that discolor-
ell box, where the figure in white came
every twilight and wandered to tho water
fall. This weird vision was common
sight, it was sal !, and they persistently
| prayed the deacon 10 put the coffin under
ground, where the dead elong Z fish
| scr ans were heard i'm the midnight hour,
1t was tel and wild songs, such as Ol IN
used to sing as she sat by the cabin door.
All knew that s'rcn., strangely swceS
voice, an | shuddered when they beard it's
echoes among tho tre $. But n one COM
planned to the authorities of tho horror.
and the bcx remained through that sum-
mer and one winter undisturbed. 1t finally
disappeared, no one knew why, and wero
afraid TO ask concerning it. But the mys-
terry was explained when he brought n
bride to the hut. She had steadily refused
to share his lot until the former wife was
put away.
But the songs wont on as of old, and the
awful cries in the cleaning, till they caffe {
it the haunted glen, through which belated
travellers hurried to the Arrest habitn-
tion. 1t was found that Edom SIN ith had
carried the box to a cavern, al most at tho
mountoin top, on the other side. How Le
succeeded in reaching the place without
} assistance was more than any one could
underst and, but no one questioned about
the awful matter. There, on a ledge of
rock in the cave may yet be seen the oaken
box, over which the mosses grow, and the
ancient ferns, and where the dolesome
ni9ht-hawks scream a IN ournful threnody.
, The rattlesnakes hiss about the place, and
q fantastic me drapes the mouth of the
tomb with scarlet LESSONS. The tale ia
told that Deacon Smith had never peace
in the hut with his new wife, for the
ghostly songs of the restless Olga, and
, that his Bible had bloody finger -morks
throughout. So they left the place one
night, going no one knew whittier, leav-
ing everything as though they would re-
turn, lut they never did, none hearing 2
from them or tho cause of their hegira.
Perhaps they were muir lerei, say the
,, "song people" Who can tell? But the
furniture Gisappeared from the hut
months later, AMI then a fra destroy ed
, the house-by what means NJ man could
say. They still saw the songs may yet be
heard in the twilight and the awful
Shrieks in the midnight hour